I would DEFINITELY care if a yeti was wearing a shirt!

That would mean that not only do Yeti exist, but that they potentially have an entire manufacturing/industrial/economic system that we can corrupt and destroy for our own profits!

Guilt free, even!

I really really like this line. Thank you.

It also means that my employer or potential employer can trace back to some posts I make regarding being an atheist and my disdain for both political parties.

Regardless of how intelligently or politely I may have spoken on these two topics and how little these topics have to do with my ability to perform well at my job, it could provide reasons for that potential employer to not hire me.

I like my being able to speak truthfully and respectfully without fearing retaliation from people that may or may not respect the message I am trying to deliver.

When I first saw this headline I thought it said "Senators Want Secret Warrantless Wiretap REMOVAL" and I was truly shocked...

But then I saw it was RENEWAL and realized that nothing had actually changed...

I bet we agree on a lot more than is coming across in this thread. What the biggest problem may be is that neither of us actually saw what happened. You describe her as losing her shit. TFA said that she had an attitude and used profanity.

Without end-to-end footage of the incident, we won't know. If she sternly stated to get the fuck away from her daughter, would you consider that disorderly conduct? I would not.

I bet that our differences might come down to just a couple of octaves...

Exactly when was this voted on? And why do you think this is a democracy?

So if someone doesn't follow social norms, you believe they should be arrested?

Actually, I was talking about the right to petition government for redress of grievances without fear of punishment. The TSA is a government agency. It is her right to complain to them without being punished. The free speech aspect of the first ammendment is what would cover her (supposed) use of profanity.

But you really nailed it with the statement about "her right(s)...versus the power of the TSA". This is exactly where we disagree. I will never agree that the power of the TSA should supercede any individual's rights. And you also seem to have a lot more respect for the "disorderly conduct" charge than I do. I tend to view it as a LEO didn't like what you were doing but couldn't find any law being broken so he'll arrest you on a disorderly charge just to get you in the squad car knowing full well that it won't stick.

I appreciate and agree with your statements about the lunacy of the $10,000 fine.

And I would counter that groping citizens and taking nude pictures of them is inappropriate behavior in an airport.

The difference is that citizens definietly have the Right to yell and scream at governement figures guaranteed in the Constitution, while the TSA is trying to convince you that they have a Right to grope you...

Which Right do you believe is more important to protect?

The big difference between the gadget/cell phones situation and the Toyota situation is the results of the tests that have been conducted once blame was assigned.

Upon being reviewed by many non-Toyota related entities, the fault was determined to be driver-error instead of the many phantom problems that Toyota was being blamed for (with the exception of the floor mat not being ideal).

Yet, upon reviewing the impact of cell phones and other gadgets on driver awareness, there has beena steady and consistant result that a driver is impaired to a non-trivial degree when using these devices.

Perhaps the rate of accidents has not changed due to vehicles themselves being far safer contraptions that swerve, brake, and accelerate in a safer manner than their predecessors?

I don't see the word "terrorism" any where in either TFA or TFS.

No optical drive means longer battery life and less weight. I've also found optical drives to be one of the easiest pieces on laptops to break. The drive won't stay shut, the drive won't stop checking for a disc being present, or it just breaks.

I've been using a netbook for just shy of four years and have only once "wished" I had an optical drive. I was able to find a work around then, and haven't needed to employ that workaround since.

Of course, I have a desktop for any heavy lifting, but that is not why I have a netbook. It has served it's purpose of couch surfing and travel tech perfectly. And you can get refurb'd ones for $200 all over the place...

Cheap. Light weight. Long battery life. These are what I care about in portable computers. If you are looking for something else...well...there aere plenty of options other then netbooks.

I completely agree that hockey is the dominant sport in all of Canada. I'm amazed that anyone could try to argue differently, honestly. But I do want to point out the the giant screens were not up up for the Stanley Cup. They are left over from the Olympics that was so recently held in Vancouver, and were simply being re-used for this event.

But that does not invalidate your overall point that I competely agree with. Hockey is unquestionably the dominant sport in Canada.

Are you aware that the last riot in Vancouver was immediately after they lost in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1994?

To say it was caused by economic conditions is looking too far into this. The Vancouver riots were caused by losing The Stanley Cup Game 7 after allowing many thousands of people to all gather into a small area.

This is the truly unfortunate reality of what will come of this...

Your comparison is flawed. You are comparing the Mac install base to the number of Windows downloads. For it to be meaningful, you would need to compare install base to install base or downloads to downloads.

But I do think your humping chihuahua analogy is both correct and hysterical.

This is actually a method used by some photographers to protect their expensive gear from random searches and theft. They obtain a valid gun permit and buy a simple starter pistol, which still needs to be treated like any other gun. Apparently the process is to register the firearm at the luggae check in area, and display that you are locking the firearm in secured luggage (which of course also contains all of your pricey photo gear). And then, yes, it does get treated with a higher level of security, and no, it can not be opened.

But you you do actually need to pack a firearm. (Not sure about ammo)

And I have no idea if it costs extra, but I imagine the airline industry would charge you where ever they can...unless the NRA lobbyists got to them...which I would have no trouble believing to be the case.